Iceland Music Fund – Music Fund (application deadline 30 Oct 2026, 15:00)

Iceland's state music fund, run by Iceland Music for the Ministry of Culture, Innovation and Higher Education. It pays for most stages of a working music career, split across four departments. Music Grants cover composing, arranging, recording, releasing and the marketing around a release, at ISK 500,000 to 3,000,000 per project. Performance Grants cover concerts and tours inside Iceland and go straight to musicians or their representatives, from ISK 250,000 to 3,000,000. Business Grants back festivals, venues, concert series and music startups. Marketing Grants, from the export department, fund work aimed at foreign markets where you already have credible partners abroad, up to ISK 2,000,000. Separately, small travel grants — ISK 75,000 within Europe, ISK 100,000 beyond — run on their own two-monthly cycle and include composers travelling to a premiere.

Grants are for specific named projects, not running costs, and the work must normally begin within 18 months of the award. Anything already finished is out. Performance and Business applicants can ask for a two- or three-year contract of ISK 1,000,000 to 6,000,000 a year, submitting a detailed first-year budget plus a longer one as an attachment; if the committee says no to the long contract it still considers the single project.

Applications go through the Rannis portal. Four committees, one per department, score against a published sheet: 40% the project itself — well defined, interesting, adding to the diversity of Icelandic music — 20% you and your collaborators, and 40% budget, marketing plan and timeline, judged on whether the numbers and dates are realistic and someone is clearly named to deliver the marketing. If you hold a grant from 2022 onwards and have not filed your report, your new application will not be read.